Library reference lines finding Internet is boosting business

PITTSBURGH -- Reference librarian Mary Long figured the Internet would put her out of business. If people could find information themselves, they wouldn't need to call her, she figured.

She was wrong.

Long and some other reference librarians around the country say they are busier than ever.

For one thing, people's expectations of the Internet are so high that they no longer seem to accept the idea that some questions cannot be answered.

''We figured, 'We're going to be out of business in 10 years' because people can look up things for themselves at home,'' says Long, who supervises the Ready Reference call-in service at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh. ''But people call us more now and they expect more because they figure we can just hit a button and -- bllllllip! -- we'll get the answer.''

Ready Reference fielded 138,000 questions last year, up from 120,000 in 1996.

''I had one today. A lady called and said, 'I want to know how my sister died.' And I asked, you know, 'Well, didn't your family tell you?' And she said, 'Well, can't you just punch in something and it will just come up?''' Long says.

Betsy Hoage, manager of InfoNow, the reference service of the Los Angeles Public Library, says many customers are overwhelmed when they go online and want help from someone familiar with computers.

''They know the information might be there, but they really don't know how to get it out, so they call us,'' she says.

John Kimball, head of the electronic resources and services section of the Library of Congress in Washington, says librarians are encouraging e-people to send e-mail inquiries instead of telephone or written requests.

Telephone requests fell from 55,764 in 1995 to 36,770 in 1999. During the same time, e-mail requests jumped from 2,262 to 17,937 per year, Kimball says.

The New York Public Library is putting a premium on Internet-trained librarians.

''In the old days, people used to come in looking for information and say, 'I can't use the encyclopedia', but nowadays kids come in and say, 'My teacher says I have to find this on the Internet,''' says Jean-Paul Michaud, coordinator of reference information services.